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I recently came across a new book called Leadership In Focus: Bringing Out Your Best On Camera by filmmaker Vern Oakley.

In it, he writes that media training “can suck all the authenticity out of you and leave nothing but a corporate talking head.” He goes on from there, accusing media trainers of teaching people how to “squirm” and “dodge.”

In this post, I’ll explain why his views of my profession are wrong — or at least vastly overstated.

At the end of many media interviews, reporters ask this final question: “Is there anything you’d like to add?”

They ask that question not only as a courtesy, but to make sure they haven’t forgotten to ask something that would improve their understanding of your topic. Unfortunately, many stressed interviewees decline to add anything and miss the opportunity to take advantage of that final “gimme” question.

One of our firm’s calling cards is that we do a tremendous amount of research before any media training session. At the end of many training sessions, our clients note with appreciation our extensive preparation.

But a comment from a recent client gave me pause and made me wonder if all of that preparation had a downside.

After reflecting on his feedback, we’ve made a meaningful adjustment to our training approach.

I often get emails from readers saying something like this: “I know you post a lot of media disasters. Do you have a good example of a spokesperson doing things right?”

We’ve posted many good interviews through the years—but since there’s such interest in the topic, I wanted to post one of my favorites, a May 2013 interview with Spirit Airlines CEO Ben Baldanza.

At the time, his airline had been ranked last in customer satisfaction by Consumer Reports. Few executives want to go on television to defend such a dismal ranking—but Baldanza appeared energized by the challenge.

A reader recently sent me a document called “101 Ways To Not Comment Without Using The Words ‘No Comment.’”

Here are a few examples: “Without commenting on any specific case, here’s the general rule.” “It would compromise our efforts if I publicly discussed the matter with you at this point.” “I cannot give you a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer to that question right now. But if you have some time, I can read to you the 85-page opinion from the court.”

In this post, you’ll see 20 of the best one-liners from that document, along with my advice about how and when to use them.

Over the past couple of years, several popular websites have incentivized their writers with a compensation plan that sounds reasonable: If your stories generate more clicks, we’ll pay you more.

But think about the implications of that. If a writer / aggregator / reporter / blogger (let’s shorten that to the acronym “WARB”) has a direct incentive to generate more clicks, do you think they’re going to go with a straightforward headline or a more sensational one? Do you think they’ll exploit inadvertent “mini gaffes” more than they otherwise might?

It’s yet another trend that makes a spokesperson’s job that much harder.

You’ve just delivered the perfect media response. Your answer is on message and perfectly quotable. It will accomplish everything you had hoped. Then…you say more.

It pains me to see an answer that was brilliant in its first 15 seconds become diluted when it lasts for another minute. An extended answer also risks introducing secondary points that offer reporters the ability to quote something relatively unimportant.

When I see our trainees deliver a great answer—and then keep going—I tell them this: “When you score a touchdown, get off the field!”